Mother Jones magazine on Tumblr

Lego figures’ heads have been getting angrier over time. That’s according to a serious academic paper (PDF) that analyzes the plastic figures’ facial expressions. More study may be required, write the researchers, to fully understand “the influence the LEGO Minifigures’ facial appearance have on LEGO users over time.” (h/t Smithsonian)

Yes, the NSA does have its own gang of cartoon characters to recruit the next generation of sneaky geeks. Above: Crypto Cat, who’s clearly smart and/or paranoid enough not to write down anything in digital form.

It’s not just the brogrammers. Silicon Valley’s gender imbalance starts at the top. Data collected by Catherine Bracey, who used to run the Obama campaign’s San Francisco tech office, shows that 89% of the executive teams at companies that got seed funding in the first half of 2010 were all male.

And America’s tech hub isn’t doing much better when it comes to race: The dudely founders of these companies were 82% white. Fewer than 1% were black or Hispanic.

New data shows that the federal government held more than 1,300 undocumented immigrant kids in adult detention centers between 2008 and 2012. Some were held more than a year. And that may be just the tip of the iceberg.

Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz on his Herman Cain-inspired character Herbert Love: “Here’s a good way to make fun of a guy who happens to be black. Let’s make him a Republican!”

Cain responds: “I heard about it, haven’t seen it, and I’m unfazed by it. In the vernacular of my grandfather, ‘I does not care.’”

If Congress doesn’t act, interest rates on federal student loans will double on July 1. More charts on America’s nearly $1 trillion student loan debt crisis.

More than half of student loan debt is held by families with a net worth less than $8,500. More charts on America’s nearly $1 trillion student loan debt crisis.

A greater share of people with student loans are behind in their payments than any other kind of borrower. More charts on America’s nearly $1 trillion student loan debt crisis.

In less than a decade, the average student loan balance has gone up almost 50%. More charts on America’s nearly $1 trillion student loan debt crisis.

Student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt. More charts on America’s nearly $1 trillion student loan debt crisis.

The cost of attending a 4-year college has more than doubled since 1980. More charts on America’s nearly $1 trillion student loan debt crisis.

Student debt has nearly quadrupled since 2003. More charts on America’s nearly $1 trillion student loan debt crisis. 

As the price of college has shot up, so has the number of Americans going into debt to pursue higher ed. Check out these 9 charts on America’s nearly $1 trillion student loan debt crisis. 

Much in the same way that a marketing campaign will go out of its way not to use the word ‘gay’ when promoting a film about two despondent gay cowboys, the marketing campaign for After Earth has gone out of its way not to mention the words ‘M. Night Shyamalan.’

“My reputation preceded me, and a rumor got started that I was a CIA hitman.”

This letter about prison life (PDF) by John Kiriakou, who’s serving 30 months in the federal pen for disclosing the name of a covert CIA agent to a journalist, makes for fascinating reading. Kiriakou also helped blow the whistle on the agency’s use of waterboarding.

Uncool: Right smack in the middle of the oily, overfished, hypoxic waters of the Gulf of Mexico.